1. Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus to measure skin moisture content and a method of operating the same, and more particularly, to an apparatus to measure skin moisture content and a method of operating the same, when measuring skin impedance to determine skin moisture content. A measured skin area is determined to be a moist area when a differential rate of the skin impedance value is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold for a predetermined period of time, and the measured skin area is determined to be a dry area when the differential rate of the skin impedance value is less than the predetermined threshold for the predetermined period of time.
2. Description of the Related Art
As more and more people become interested in beauty, an interest in skin care has also increased. A desire for healthy skin effects not only beauty-related businesses, but also effects the growth of medical-related businesses as well since people need to protect their skin from ultraviolet rays that have become stronger due to the destruction of the ozone layer, and various types of pollution.
Skin is an organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of epithelial tissues. Main functions of the skin are to protect against pathogens, waterproofing, temperature regulation, insulation, etc. One of the most critical elements to enable the proper performance of the functions of skin is moisture content in a stratum corneum. The moisture content in the stratum corneum is generally called skin moisture content. Maintaining a particular moisture content in the stratum corneum enables the performing of basic functions of skin, such as protecting against harmful substances like pathogens, and preventing excessive evaporation of skin moisture.
In view of skin care, the skin moisture content is also considered an essential element. Accordingly, fundamental to skin care is skin moisture management.
According to a conventional art, an electrical measurement method, an optical measurement method, and a method using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are included in a method of measuring skin moisture content. The electrical measurement method is widely used. More particularly, a method of measuring the skin moisture content by measuring susceptance, i.e. an alternating current (AC) component of admittance, of three electrodes using a sinusoidal wave of 50 KHz is mainly used.
Generally, skin moisture content for each anatomical area is different. Accordingly, when the skin moisture content is a standard for determining whether skin is moist or dry, the skin moisture content may be variously set according to each of the anatomical areas. Thus, the skin moisture content may be measured when a distribution of a value of the skin moisture content is ascertained. In the conventional art, in order to measure the skin moisture content for each of the anatomical areas, the skin moisture content is measured based on different standards after classifying a skin of a user into a moist area and a dry area for convenience.
However, when adopting an apparatus to measure skin moisture content according to the conventional art for a mobile communication terminal, a user is required to input each skin area to be measured, and measure skin moisture content for each of the inputted skin areas, respectively. Accordingly, the method of measuring skin moisture content according to the conventional art may not provide users a convenient measurement of skin moisture content.
Thus, a method of measuring skin moisture content which may automatically classify a skin of a user into a moist area and a dry area, and accurately measure the skin moisture content based on a suitable standard is needed.